


Good Neighbors

by kumarei



Category: Agricola
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 14:08:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/528126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumarei/pseuds/kumarei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Samuel has been a good neighbor, but does he suspect too much? It's always hard to tell.</p><p>Fanfiction for the board game Agricola.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Neighbors

"Howdy there neighbor!" The man called across the wooden fence, startling Edward where he stood.

Edward slowly turned toward the man, composing himself. The man was his neighbor, Samuel, who lived a couple miles away. "Hello, human Samuel."

Edward stood on the little dirt path that led from his mud-brick cabin to the front gate. In either direction, Edward's land stretch out for a couple miles. Out to the west was Edward's farmland, which lay mostly barren still. To the east was the woods, which Edward had been examining when Samuel had startled him.

Samuel took a big, deep breath, then let it out. "It's looking to be a cold winter, I reckon. You can already taste that chill in the air."

Edward nodded to him. "Cold."

"Yep, reckon so." He eyed the piles of wood that were stacked against Edward's house. They were huge and precarious. The logs were stacked up to roof height, and wouldn't all fit in the house if they were brought in. "That why you have so much firewood?"

Edward nodded again. "Cold."

Samuel scratched his head and gave Edward a strange look. "Look, I know it ain't none of my business, but do you reckon you have enough food for you and the misses? I know it's been a lean year for you, and it's been a year of plenty for me and mine." Samuel held up his hands, as if to ward off protest. "Now I ain't saying nothin' about you, it's just that times are tough out here, and there's no shame in getting help from a neighbor. I'd surely hope you'd do the same for me if I fell on hard times."

Edward felt a cold rise up inside of him. He had mentioned Edward's wood pile, his lack of food. He knew. He must know. There was no other explanation.

Edward shivered, and it wasn't from the cold.

"You alright?" Samuel looked even more concerned, and Edward's heart began to thud in his chest.

No, Edward had to get a hold of himself. He forced the panic down. Samuel's comments could just be innocuous. After all, Samuel was merely a normal human being. Even if he had noticed, Edward could deal with him. Accidents happened out here in the wilderness. He dug his fingernails into his palms and regained control of himself. "Yes. I am fine. We are fine. You don't need to worry about us. We have food for the winter."

Samuel's eyebrows raised. "Well, alright. I reckon you know best. But if you find yourself in trouble, don't you hesitate to call on me." He raised a hand to Edward. "I'll be seein' you."

Edward blinked, and his eyes stayed in a half squint. "Yes. I suppose you will."

Edward watched Samuel until he was out of sight. Then he went and grabbed one of the logs from the pile and took it inside. His nerves were still on edge. Whether or not Samuel knew, he was a danger to the mission. Edward knew what he had to do to humans that endangered the mission. It would be all too easy, he knew. Accidents happened out here. People fell into fish ponds and drowned. Nobody would think twice about it.

He set the log on the table, set a napkin delicately in his lap, and then set to eating. Edward always ate when he was stressed, and having to kill a neighbor was stressful. His human features melted into something stranger, more segmented, as he allowed himself to relax. He let his sharp scraper teeth exude into his mouth, and began to gnaw on the wood. There was the sound of teeth scraping against teeth as the wood was ground into powder.

\---------------

Samuel took one glance back toward Edward as he left the man's land. Edward sure was a strange fellow. Heck, their whole family was strange. He had it from Laura that the man's wife was just as off-putting. Oh well. When you lived out here past the edges of civilization, you couldn't choose your neighbors. And frankly, Edward was a good neighbor. He never competed with Samuel when it came to the cow markets, or buying grain, or anything really. He was quiet and he kept to himself, and that made him a damn sight better than most that lived around here.

Samuel started to whistle. It was a fine day, despite the cold. The sun was out and shining, and he didn't have a care in the world. Maybe he'd go fishing later.


End file.
